For Vietnamese, the Lunar New Year — also known as “Tet” — is the most important holiday of the year. People usually return to their families at this time, worshipping at the family altar and visiting and sweeping their ancestors’ graves.
The word “Tet” is short for Tet Nguyen Dan, Sino-Vietnamese for “Feast of the First Morning of the First Day.” On Tet, people usually buy peach blossom, apricot blossom, kumquat trees and other flowers for decoration to welcome the arrival of spring.
For most Vietnamese, the Tet celebrations begin with the Le cung ong tao — the ceremony of sending off the three Kitchen Gods — on the 23rd of the last month of the lunar year. According to legend, the three Kitchen Gods ride carp to Heaven on this day to deliver an annual report to the God of Heaven on the household’s activity.
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At Tet, Vietnamese decorate their houses with different blossoms, depending on the region: yellow apricot blossoms in the central and southern parts of the country and peach blossoms in the northern part. These represent affluence, good luck and happiness. The kumquat tree is also a very popular decoration for the living room during Tet: a fruit-laden tree symbolizes fertility and prosperity for the coming year.
In Vietnamese, to celebrate Tet is to “an Tet,” which literally means “to eat Tet.” This explains why food is of particular importance during the New Year celebrations. Traditional foods on Tet include square-shaped banh chung and cylindrical banh tet, which are made from glutinous rice with mung bean paste, pork and other fillings tightly wrapped in dong (Phrynium placentarium) leaves and banana leaves. After molding them into their respective shapes, they are boiled for several hours. Children are told stories of the legendary origins of individual dishes as the food is left cooking overnight.
(Chang Ho-ming, Taipei Times)
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對越南人而言，又稱「Tet」的農曆新年，是一年當中最重要的節日。在新年期間，人們通常會返鄉團圓、在家中的神壇祭拜、前往祖先墓地參拜，並為其掃墓。
「Tet」這個字來自漢越詞「節元旦」的簡稱，指的是「農曆正月初一早上的盛宴」。在越南新年當天，人們經常會購買桃花、杏花、金桔樹，以及其他花卉裝飾於家中，喜迎春天的到來。
對大多數越南人來說，越南新年的整個慶祝活動開始於農曆臘月二十三日的「祭灶節」，也就是恭送三位灶君返回天庭的儀式。傳說，三位灶君會在二十三日乘著鯉魚飛回天庭，向玉皇大帝繳交年度觀察報告，稟報一年來家家戶戶的所作所為。
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照片：歐新社
在越南新年當天，越南人會用不同花卉裝飾屋內，種類則依地區各異：越南中部和南部多用黃色的杏花，北部則主要是桃花。這些花朵代表富裕、好運，以及幸福。金桔樹也是越南新年期間非常受到歡迎的客廳裝飾──結實纍纍的樹，象徵即將到來的這一年豐饒且興旺。
在越南文中，「慶祝新年」(an Tet)字面上的意思就是「吃新年」，這也解釋了為什麼食物在新年的慶祝活動中佔有舉足輕重的地位。傳統的越南新年食物包括「方粽」和「圓筒粽」，基本上就是糯米包入綠豆餡、豬肉，以及其它餡料，再分別用尖苞柊葉和芭蕉葉緊緊地包起來。這兩種粽子經過塑形後，要花上好幾個鐘頭徹夜煮熟。在這段時間，大人們就會告訴小孩子各種關於年節菜餚起源的傳說故事。
(台北時報章厚明撰)
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